Colombo, Sri Lanka (19 August 2013). World Humanitarian Day honours those who have lost their lives in humanitarian service and those who continue to bring assistance and relief to millions. In December 2008 the UN General Assembly declared 19 August as World Humanitarian Day to commemorate the day when 22 UN staff tragically lost their lives in Iraq in a massive bomb attack on the UN Headquarters in Baghdad. During the past decade, over 800 aid workers worldwide have lost their lives in the line of duty.

#MeetTheRC is a youth engagement initiative of the UN Communications Group in Sri Lanka. The event provides a platform for young people between the ages 15-29 to engage in meaningful dialogue with the UN Resident Coordinator and the Heads of a few UN agencies to discuss issues that are of relevance to young people.

As a staunch advocate of the education, health and rights of girls and an enduring believer in the power of young women to transform our world, I welcome the focus of this year’s World Population Day on adolescent pregnancy. This sensitive topic demands global attention.

On Thursday, July 4, 2013, the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, Mr. Ahmed Alhendawi , who arrived in Colombo earlier that week, met with the UN Country Team, the UN Communications Group and the Youth Mechanism of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.

The latest UNHCR figures in the Global Trends 2012 report released Wednesday show that as of the end of 2012, more than 45.2 million people were in situations of displacement compared with 42.5 million at the end of 2011. This includes 15.4 million refugees, 937,000 asylum-seekers, and 28.8 million people forced to flee within the borders of their own countries

On Friday, 7th June, Hon. Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy, officially inaugurated a programme to put forests at the heart of Sri Lanka’s strategy to tackle climate change. The programme will help Sri Lanka to prepare for an international mechanism to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). REDD+ will be part of a future international comprehensive agreement to tackle global warming, which is currently being negotiated through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).